Will Romneys Lawn Workers Sink His Candidacy?

Alec MacGillis

October 19, 2011

Well, this much is clear: Rick Perry's campaign takes its cues from this blog, which just a few days ago asked in a headline, "Time for Perry to Bring up Mitt's lawn care?" Apparently, it was time. The question that came to my mind as that remarkable fracas last night was occurring was: could this turn into Mitt Romney's driver's license moment? Hillary Clinton was sailing along on an aura of inevitability in the fall of 2007, acing the debates much as Romney has done, when she found herself ganged up in a Philadelphia debate over her ambiguous stance over whether or not illegal immigrants in New York state should be allowed drivers' licenses.

It was a damaging moment because it brought to the fore all at once the less appealing side of her political persona, the trimming and calculating Hillary. There was a sudden similar risk in Perry's attack on Mitt's lawn workers (and what is it, anyway, with immigration as the issue that sparks revelatory moments in both parties' debates?) -- it reacquainted viewers very clearly with the Romney that he had managed to submerge so far in the campaign, the supremely wealthy suburban Boston pol who finds it unnervingly easy to talk away past positions or actions in blatant denial of the historical record. It will be up to viewers to decide what they make of this Mitt -- appealing to Anderson Cooper to restore order, his face red, his voice raised to a full shout -- in the constant replaying that the back and forth is sure to get in the coming days. Me, I thought the Times' Alessandra Stanley nailed it: "Romney looked a little like a country club tennis player dealing with a nonmember guest who gauchely calls a ball in that was obviously out."

Still, for this to turn into an equivalent of Hillary's driver's license moment will require that there is another candidate who is able to capitalize on this opening the way that Barack Obama was able to do then, as he deftly zeroed in on the triangulating Hillary in the Jefferson-Jackson speech in Des Moines that revived his campaign. This is the chance for Rick Perry's team to prove they're as good as everyone in Texas says they are.

Perry looked stupid. Perry gives a pass to employers in Texas using a MILLION cheap illegals, and gets outraged over guys mowing Romney’s lawn? A guy who is giving away cheap tuition to illegals left and right is simply in no position to point fingers on illegal immigration.

Santorum was MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE in taking down Romney on Romneycare.

We CANNOT allow Romney to be the nominee because he CANNOT make the case against Obamacare (among his other liberal positions).

Obamacare is pure tyranny and an offense against freedom. That Americans would permit government officials to decide what health care Americans should be allowed to receive is a disgrace. It is no answer for Romney to say “it is okay for a state to impose this tyranny but not the federal government.”

This is just as bad as Perry saying that the federal government shouldn’t be involved in investing taxpayer money in private businesses like Solyndra but it is okay for a state to take taxpayer money and invest in private businesses in the Texas Emerging Technology Fund.

Even Gingrich is compromised on this issue with his love for the government mandate on Americans.

People love Gingrich in the debates but this is the same guy who wanted a government mandate and fell for the man-made global warming scam.

We need to keep Santorum around in the debates because he is the most effective one in taking down Romney.

Romney was caught TWICE with illegals working his grounds. It is possible I’m certain for a man as well connected and rich as he is to find a company they know follows the rule of law if he had really cared about the issue. In the end all he cares about is what he admitted. How it reflects on his presidential campaign. The man doesn’t care about border security or illegal workers. He cares about saying or doing whatever he has to do to win a political contest even if it involves lying.

15
posted on 10/19/2011 5:37:14 PM PDT
by Soul Seeker
(I will work every day to make Washington, D.C., as inconsequential in your lives as I can - Perry)

The DailyMail (a UK operation) focused an earlier story about someone else down to this sentence: "Sep 30, 2010  Whitman denies knowing about her housekeeper's status, claiming she fired her as soon as she discovered she was working illegally."

Gloria Allred the Fascist Pig from Hell pursued Whitman to a massive electoral defeat on that particular issue.

Of course it's a phony issue. I think the point of the article is that Romney handled it so poorly. He should have simply given his explanation, which is plausible enough, and shut up. Instead he let Perry's needling get to him.

Santorum is a non entity. He has been a non entity ever since he was run out of office by CONSERVATIVES over endorsing Specter instead of Toomey. Even in the Gardisol debate he came second to Bachmann. The man has never laid a finger on Romney, he doesn’t have the ability to damage him. Only two people have hurt romney in this entire cycle. Perry and Cain. Cain by topping Romney in a few polls...for however long that lasts. And Perry for doing that first...but also being the only one who has shown a willingness to go for Mitt’s throat in these debates. I would have a much easier time jumping off of Perry if just one of the other people showed the same willingness to rip Romney to shreds as they have shown to Perry. Until or if that happens I stick with Perry .

20
posted on 10/19/2011 5:42:47 PM PDT
by Soul Seeker
(I will work every day to make Washington, D.C., as inconsequential in your lives as I can - Perry)

BTW, that's what ROMNEY interrupted PERRY about ~ he was just set to show that ROMNEY was a repeat offender with the same company.

He knew he was rehiring a company that regularly hired illegal alien lawn boys and cheap tarts.

That's actually much worse than Whitman ~ she did not hire that woman twice, just once (albeit for several years).

Romney knew his boosters in the audience would try to rattle Perry into skipping the "repeat offender" part of the story.

That seemed to me very much like the Algore's funny animal noises during the first Bush (43) debate!

Huntsman was absolutely correct to NOT attend this particular debate. The misbehavior of the audience coordinated with the attempt by Romney to prevent the utterance of the FULL STORY by another candidate definitely put the lie to "Oh, gee whiz guys, those people are always clean, and neat and so polite".

Sometimes I guess they're not.

We might also ask how it was that Huntsman knew that would happen. Was he in on it? Does he have a spy in the Perry camp?

Is this a joke? I don’t like Romney, but he BLASTED Perry on this, just vaporized him! Perry could do no more than stand there and scowl and look like an idiot. I think Romney and Perry are both turd candidates, but Romney sure looked good compared to Perry last night.

Perry would be a hell of a lot smarter to shut up about Romney’s flip-flops on immigration and instead try to lock up the social conservatives he’s been courting for years. Romney certainly has plenty of flip flops on those issues.

27
posted on 10/19/2011 5:48:23 PM PDT
by LibertarianInExile
(Rick Perry sweep the polls? Naw, the illegals he's coddled in Texas do all his sweeping.)

Dick Morris blew it tonight over on O'Reilly. He took Perry to task for interrupting Romney. However, it was Romney interrupting Perry as he told the story of Romney being caught twice with illegals doing his lawn work.

So we went to the company and we said, look, you cant have any illegals working on our property. Im running for office, for petes sake, we cant have illegals.

What Santorum did here is what we need MUCH MORE of. Perry was never as effective as this:

SANTORUM: Mitt, the governor of Massachusetts just is coming forward saying we have to pick up the job left undone by Romneycare, which is doing something about cutting health care costs.

What you did is exactly what Barack Obama did: focused on the wrong problem. Herman always says you've got to find the right problem. Well, the right problem is health care costs. What you did with a top-down, government-run program was focus on the problem of health care access. You expanded the pool of insurance without controlling costs. You've blown a hole in the budget up there. And you authored in Obamacare, which is going to blow a hole in the budget of this country.

COOPER: Governor Romney, I'm going to give you 30 seconds.

ROMNEY: I'm -- I'm sorry, Rick, that you find so much to dislike in my plan, but I'll tell you, the people in Massachusetts like it by about a 3-1 margin.

And we dealt with a challenge that we had, a lot of people that were expecting government to pay their way. And we said, you know what? If people have the capacity to care for themselves and pay their own way, they should.

Now, I can tell you this, it's absolutely right that there's a lot that needs to be done. And I didn't get the job done in Massachusetts in getting the health care costs down in this country. It's something I think we have got to do at the national level. I intend to do that.

But one thing is for sure. What Obama has done is imposed on the nation a plan that will not work, that must be repealed. And when it comes to knowledge about health care and how to get our health care system working, I may not be a doctor like this one right over here, but I sure understand how to bring the cost of health care down and how to also make sure that we have a system that works for the American people.

I really don’t trust Romney, but in the debate, I saw Romney trying to explain in simple terms what happened but Perry, who I thought was acting like a hothead, wouldn’t let him finish. Seemed to me Romney, to his credit, kept calm even though he couldn’t finish his sentences with Perry basically yelling over his attempts to speak. I thought that made Perry look bad.

Mitt Romney laying a threatening hand on Rick Perry's shoulder and invading his space was NOT good (worse theatrics that can backfire like Lazio's in your face walk over to Hilary Clinton). And Perry constantly interrupting Romney was also NOT good. (And Romney interrupted Perry as well, too). It was despicable. It is falling RIGHT INTO THE LIBS trap. You don't think they aren't going to resurrect these videos of infighting like this for spots in the General? We can disagree on issues up there without giving them the visuals to destroy us later. I think the others like Gingrich and particularly Herman Cain rose to the Reagan Standard on this one last night, I truly do.

37
posted on 10/19/2011 5:53:52 PM PDT
by AmericanInTokyo
(Herman Cain will be the nominee of the GOP! The momentum is unmistakeable. The Dems/RINOs hate it.)

A “company that cares”, how? By discriminating against international workers? By illegally demanding greater proof from new employees?

What’s he going to do, call up all the landscapers he can find and ask if they hire illegals?

Now, I think Romney is thoroughly inadequate re: illegal immigration, and only marginally better than Perry on the issue. I’d rather have Cain, Santorum, Gingrich or Bachmann be my nominee, but there’s no way to hang him on this particular angle.

Hmmm. It came across to me that Perry was basically yelling at Romney while it was Romney’s turn to explain Perry’s accusations. I’m not crazy about defending Romney, but here it looked to me like Perry was the one who was out of line.

” but also being the only one who has shown a willingness to go for Mitts throat in these debates. “

And now Perry is being criticized by some on the right for being
too “ mean spirited “
and “ too aggressive.”
Sheesh .
Conservatives bemoan the lack of an attacker on our side
and when we get one,
many get the vapors and complain that Perry
was too mean to Romney.
We’re apparently supposed to play by Robert’s Rules of Order
instead of my preferred tact of Take No Prisoner.
I think Perry could definitely rattle thin-skinned Obama
just like he did thin-skinned Romney.

Didn’t Mittens get through this in 2008? Kind of hard for Perry since his #1 funder Bob Perry of Perry Homes hires THOUSANDS of illegal aliens and killed the about-to-pass Sanctuary Cities ban with zero protest from Perry.

While I was in charge of our HOA I had to make calls around for a company to handle our lawn care.

Right off the bat I told them two things ~ (1) If they brought illegals onto our property I'd sue, and (2) If they couldn't guarantee "no illegals" don't bother bidding.

In the end we found a local fellow. I helped him set up his company and write his bid. He's been great. He was born on one of those little Vietnamese boats overcrowded with hundreds of people just as it started sinking ~ I remember praying for the safety of those people and writing numerous letters to my Congressman and Senators about what to do.

He's legal and he didn't just step over a line in the sand.

Oh, and right after solving that problem I went blind for several months.

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